About Us

Korwin Consulting works closely with a broad and varied network of consultants bringing diverse languages, cultures, and other key skills and experience to each initiative. This collaborative model allows us to pull together the right team at the right time.

Lisa Korwin, Principal and Founder

Over the past 25 years, Lisa has provided evaluation, strategy, and capacity-building services to more than 200 nonprofits, foundations, and public agencies.

With a deep commitment to equity and social justice, Lisa works closely with organizations throughout the country to gather and interpret actionable data that informs strategic practice. She has assisted numerous organizations in building their evaluative culture. Through training, coaching, and development of systems, Lisa recognizes the importance that critical thinking and analysis—hallmarks of evaluation—play in supporting effective and sustainable interventions and advocacy campaigns.

With a master’s degree in public administration and an emphasis in organizational development, Lisa combines the wisdom gained from managing several mid-sized consulting firms with the individualized attention of a smaller company. She is an active member of the American Evaluation Association, the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, and the Progressive Consultants Network. Lisa has presented workshops and trainings on evaluation-related topics for students, staff, and organizations including UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the Haas School of Business Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, the American Evaluation Association Conference, and the Women’s Funding Network.

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The Catalyst Fund is a prime example of Lisa’s ability to instill a culture of evaluation and commitment to data-driven strategic practice. Over the past decade, Lisa and her team have partnered with Groundswell Fund to gather and analyze one of the longest-running and largest data sets on reproductive justice in the U.S.

As evaluator and strategic partner of the Partnership for Women’s Prosperity—a philanthropic community of practice working to move the needle on women’s economic security in six high poverty communities—Lisa works closely with the partners to identify promising practices, understand the collective impact that their foundations are having, and to examine the work through a systems change framework.

Previously, Lisa was the director of a domestic violence agency, and later a housing/homeless services provider. She was manager of a philanthropic think tank on civic engagement, and served as chair of a countywide homeless coalition. As a board member of an innovative provider supporting transition-age foster youth, she served on both the governance and program evaluation committees. Together, these experiences position Lisa to understand both the practical and theoretical implications informing system change efforts.

Robin Horner, Evaluation Manager

Robin Horner is an experienced evaluator with strong skills in analytical inquiry, project and team management, writing, communication, and the development of quantitative and qualitative evaluation tools. She has been an associate with Korwin Consulting since 2003 and works on all aspects of evaluations. Robin has expertise in building clients’ capacity to identify evaluation needs, to design flexible and personalized evaluation plans and tools, to participate in assessing the process and impact of their work, and to use evaluation findings for program improvement and sustainability. She is especially adept at developing and facilitating workshops and trainings to build skills and understanding related to evaluation. She took the lead in developing and delivering a series of trainings on deepening the evaluative culture at the California Youth Connection and, more recently, in trainings for economic justice grantee cohorts of the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota on how to conduct evaluations and use a gender lens in the design of theories of change and evaluations. Her project management, organization and analysis of data, and professional team mentorship are integral to our work.

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As an evaluator, Robin starts by listening to clients and understanding the “big picture” of where they are and what they need to learn in order to bring about meaningful change at individual, community, institutional, or systemic levels. In addition to her work with Korwin Consulting, she has collaborated on projects with other evaluation teams and independently, enjoying the sharing and learning of new ideas that result from these experiences. Robin holds a master’s in public administration with an emphasis on nonprofit organizations from San Francisco State University. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association. She has worked as a teacher (K-12, including drop-out, court-referred, and otherwise marginalized and at-risk youth) and worked or volunteered with organizations addressing mental health and public health issues. She continues to mentor and provide academic support for children and youth in formal and informal settings. She has a background in and ongoing passion for the performing arts and is a lifelong learner of language, culture, and social justice.

Ana Estrada Daniels, Evaluation Associate

Ana Estrada Daniels has over fifteen years of working with individuals, teams, organizations and communities to develop their capacity to lead and influence at all levels. Ana accomplishes this by building relationships with clients to gain an understanding of their challenges, opportunities and desired impact while looking across their evolving landscape. The drive behind her work is a desire to create equitable environments where all people have the opportunity to thrive. As a junior associate for Korwin Consulting, Ana focuses on qualitative evaluation with philanthropy, nonprofits and public sector organizations to equip them with information they can use to leverage their influence and create systemic changes. Ana has played key roles in evaluation efforts with clients such as National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Partnership for Women’s Prosperity, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.

Throughout her career, Ana has designed and delivered educational programs and capacity building support for nonprofits, foundations and public agencies. She specializes in program evaluation, leadership and career development, building networks, community outreach, and strategic frameworks. Most recently Ana was part of the planning team for the Better Together: California Teachers Summit, which was “an unprecedented event led for teachers, by teachers, and designed to build a better future for California students while creating stronger teacher communities.” Previously, Ana worked with an organizational effectiveness consulting group and the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy to design and deliver executive leadership programs and provide support for organizational effectiveness. One of her major contributions was leading the Sierra Health Foundation’s Alumni Health Leadership Program to provide resources, leadership development and networking opportunities to build this network of over 250 nonprofit executives.

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Her commitment to service was sparked during her AmeriCorps national service years with the National Civilian Community Corps as a Corps member, team leader, and eventually the assistant project director for training for the Pacific Region. Through her roles, she built cross sector partnerships, supported the leadership and career development of members, and tracked the impact of national service projects and training.

Ana holds a Master of Public Administration degree from University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Art in economics and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has studied abroad in Mexico, Spain, and Brazil. Currently, she chairs the AmeriCorps Alums National Advisory Council and is a fellow in the Annie E. Casey 2015 Social Sector Talent Pipeline Strategy and Learning Lab as a representative of AmeriCorps Alums. She has also served on other community boards, such as: Wind Youth Services, the Sacramento County Public Health Advisory Board, the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and AmeriCorps Alums Sacramento (as chapter leader). She was selected as a national 2013 Judith O’Connor Scholar through BoardSource and a 2011 Rising Star through ASPA’s Sacramento Chapter.

Nina Sabarre, Evaluation Associate

Nina Sabarre has nearly eight years of experience in evaluation and mixed-methods research in over 25 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central America, and North America. She consults on a wide variety of projects for clients ranging from USAID, to the United Nations, World Bank, Facebook, the Los Angeles Police Department, and academic institutions. Her work focuses on program evaluation, survey research, public-private partnerships, and data visualization. As an Evaluation Associate, Nina works with clients from design to data collection and delivery. She collaborates with clients to refine their evaluation questions, design sophisticated and tailored methodology, gather actionable evidence, and use findings for purposes such as decision-making, improvement, and overall social betterment.

Nina earned a master’s degree in Political Science and bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Philosophy from Virginia Tech, as well as a graduate certificate in Program Monitoring and Evaluation from American University. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Evaluation and Applied Research at Claremont Graduate University. Her doctoral research focuses on the evaluation of cross-sector partnerships for social impact.

Nina is driven by helping clients do good and do it well. She is passionate about helping organizations understand the value of evaluation as a catalyst for relevant and lasting social change. She is currently leading an evaluation of the Law Enforcement Advanced Development program for the Los Angeles Police Department, in which officers are trained by faculty from USC’s Schools of Social Work and Public Policy on how to better respond to vulnerable and diverse populations and reduce the instances of violent outcomes.

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Her career started in the field of international research, with a specific focus on collecting data in conflict, crisis, and developing environments. Nina managed the data collection process and build research capacity of local field partners, either remotely and in-country, in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Tunisia, and Yemen. From 2013 to 2015, she worked on the largest and most complex impact evaluation undertaken by the U.S. Government. USAID commissioned the Measuring Impact of Stabilization Initiatives (MISTI) program in Afghanistan in order to evaluate stabilization efforts aimed at infrastructure development, local governance, and capacity building in volatile communities. Over five waves of data collection, Nina led a team of researchers to analyze public opinion data from nearly 200,000 respondents to measure and map stabilization trends. One of her core strengths is her ability to distill large amounts of data into a strategic and meaningful narrative using data visualization and effective communication.

Sophie Punkar, Administrative and Evaluation Assistant

Sophie Punkar has worn a number of different hats in organizations focused on education, youth development, and research. Sophie contributes to Korwin Consulting her skills in writing, administration, and data analysis. She is excited to be a part of a team that supports organizations to build evaluative, data-driven cultures and practices.

Sophie attended UC Irvine, where she held leadership positions in organizations associated with the LGBT Center, supported and developed research projects, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology, Law and Society with a minor in Queer Studies. She provided in-depth qualitative data analysis for the UC Irvine Department of Criminology, Law and Society for a project researching violence among youth in detention facilities to inform preventative reforms in the California Department of Juvenile Justice. Through her involvement in this project she was awarded an undergraduate research fellowship to pursue her own research focused on attitudes toward masculinity as it relates to violence in detention facilities. Sophie has also mentored youth to provide energy efficiency services and resources with Rising Sun Energy Center in Berkeley, an organization that provides career training to youth and free energy audits to the community. She recruited volunteers with the OUSD Family Engagement Unit, where she gained experience in community outreach and youth development. A proud bay area native, Sophie has travelled extensively to continually learn and broaden her worldview.

Associate Consultants

Lizette I. Pérez, Esq., Evaluation Associate

Lizette’s commitment to social justice has been fortified by her work over the past 15 years in non-profits, the public sector, education, and immigration and juvenile law. Prior to joining Korwin Consulting, Lizette worked with vulnerable populations ranging from youth involved in the juvenile court system at the San Diego CHOICE program, as an intake case coordinator to undocumented immigrants and asylees at Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), and at Pangea Legal Services as a law clerk.

In her work with Korwin Consulting, Lizette combines her skills in critical thinking, data analysis, writing, and communication to provide clients with useful and succinct findings to promote their work in systems change and program improvement. Lizette has contributed to evaluation projects with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Heath, Groundswell Fund, and the Women’s Foundation of California. This work has cemented her belief in the transformative role that community-based organizations play in mobilizing communities for local change and, in turn, larger policy advancement.

Lizette holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science with a minor in Social Work from San Diego State University. She recently earned a Juris Doctor degree with a certificate in Public Interest Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

In her spare time, Lizette likes to take long walks, bask in the sunshine, travel, read, and discover new cuisine.

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What Clients Are Saying

“What I appreciate most about working with Lisa is her ability to deeply listen to our partners and communicate impact in a clear, concise way. She is adept at consolidating complex social-change concepts and activities and transforming them into strategic outcomes. I deeply appreciate that Lisa understands philanthropy and our role to maximize the impact with our grantee-partners’ work to drive gender equity in Minnesota."
– Lee Roper-Batker, President and CEO, Women's Foundation of Minnesota